Japanese war fan - gunbai-uchiwa

The gunbai is a solid metal war fan used by samurai officers to communicate commands to their troops. The gunbai-uchiwa version was typically rounded in shape and stiff with a prolonged grip, and could also be used as weapon using the handle to strike and the stiff fan to block with. This war fan is based on an original from the Edo period and is inscribed with Chinese military philosophy from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”. The front side reads: "Subduing the enemy’s troops without any fighting; capturing the enemy’s cities without laying siege to them; overthrowing the enemy’s kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.” The back side states: “The winner in warfare always lays plans which will ensure their victory first, and then leads their army into battle. The loser always begins to battle without stratagem, but relies on brute strength alone.” Blackened steel with nickel silver fittings. Made by Paul Chen / Hanwei, who mistakenly call this a "gunbai-dansen" style war fan. Comes with a display stand (that holds the gunbai fan-down, I have no idea why but presume it is historic, hopefully someone will explain), and a display/presentation box (with instruction sheet for assembling the stand). On closeout, only a limted supply remains. These are really sweet. If you have any serious interest in samurai militaria and Japanese weaponry, believe me, you want to get one of these.